Michelle's Review: Obsession by Debra Webb

Monday, September 24, 2012

Format: E-bookPublisher: Forever YoursRelease Date: July 10, 2012
ISBN: 9781455527663Source of my copy: publisher
Series: Faces of Evil #1
Synopsis (from Goodreads)She thought she'd left the murders-and his obsession-behind...
Special Agent Jess Harris has spent more than a decade studying the many faces of evil. In her determination to stop a serial killer, she broke the rules, and it cost her everything. With her career in need of resuscitation and her love life dead and buried, Jess jumps at a chance to advise on a case that has the top detectives of Birmingham, Alabama, stumped. But the case forces her to confront all the reasons she put her hometown-and her first love-in her rearview mirror.
Four young women have gone missing, and Police Chief Dan Burnett will do anything to find them before it's too late-even if it means asking for help from the woman who has spent a decade avoiding him. Jess agrees to lend a hand and welcomes the diversion of a new case, a new life to save to make up for the victims she's lost. But then the unthinkable happens: the crazed serial killer from her past follows Jess to Birmingham. The situation is becoming increasingly desperate-and time is swiftly running out...

Michelle's Review:
I saw the book covers for the Faces of Evil series on Amazon and Goodreads but I never really paid them any attention until a publicist from Forever emailed me asking if I want to feature the series on our blog. I asked for the first book, Obsession, to read and see if I'll like it and, we went from there.

Obsession ended up being a good read! The story was told through different perspective third-person perspective: Jess Harris, Dan Burnett (the police chief), Lori Wells (one of the detectives and the only other woman working on the case) and Andrea (one of the missing girls held captive by the psychotic couple).

Sometimes, it did drag especially since the police couldn't find anything to link the missing girls for the longest time so most of the action happened when the story switches to Andrea. I couldn't stop reading then, as we see her trying to escape, and learn more about the couple who took them and why they did what they did, and later on towards the end, what they force her to do.

The primary focus of the story was on the police investigation with the romance a secondary plot but I am fine with that. I know the relationship between Jess Harris and Dan Burnett will develop more as the series continue. But, basically, Jess Harris and Dan Burnett had unresolved issues from their past relationship and there's a lot of [sexual] tension between. There was also tertiary plot about Lori Wells (as well as a secondary romance between her and another detective on the team) that adds to the drama.

As for the characters, I couldn't really connect with Jess as much as I wanted to. I feel like the author told us rather than showed us why she was how she was and I couldn't empathize with her situation. The same goes for Dan Burnett. I thought he didn't show much of a personality for most of the book. Their characters felt one-dimensional at times and it was only towards the end that we finally see character development. I have high hopes as the series continues that there will be more character development.

If you like mystery/suspense novels, you might want to consider Obsession and the Faces of Evil series. It's written in a easy-to-read way, perfect for a weekend read.